Opinion Journal: Battle Over Burqas

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... the Berk a ... French girl HSBA and clothing that covers the face of this will do lab work is favored by some Muslims ... welcome to Opinion Journal Live the French parliament is done debating this but there were still debating a tear to Wall Street Journal and ... thirty tock but as Matt Kaminski is our editorial board member ... Brett Stevens's are ... deputy editor of the editorial page ... gentlemen thanks for being tentative ... at first it was to American ears it sounds kind of ... insane that the government would be telling people what to wear but the bread you say that ... there is reason to respect France's decision ... the many reasons respect the French decision first of all of ... Natalee in France but throughout Europe there is a growing ... controversy because the ... increasing number of Muslim women both European Muslims and also visitors ... are wearing ... the burka as the cops which covers not only their ... hair ... but completely obscure words ... their stakes there been a longstanding bands in Europe for covering her face weren't for instance a ski mask ... in public demonstrations earlier this year ... the Belgian parliament passed a law banning ... recovery phase really having purpose or were these ... the cause ... another French defaults in ... that sense of democratically ... through a vote in both houses of their parliament ... they've done so with I think of with the broad consensus of French believing that this is right that's right and the juice also a tradition of French secularism which is not the American tradition ... but this one we all respect OK so they have voted for and so the respect the vote and when you think of a ski mask analogy ... what the for the dollar to stay with the pocket Edition ... Lingus's it's it's true this a lot of promise in Europe are ... passing the source of finance ... in France specifically it was pushed by prison the close of the sea of there's a reason why speech and no one made reasons he spends about thirty two percent in the polls these days ... and was the French don't want to run again for elections is in serious political trouble ... his tilts what is needed based ... on policies is an effort to save his own skin ... he has recently on call to revoke citizenship of ... a ... match like Citizens for the crimes he's gone after ... Gypsy camps in services which seems to me it in general are anti Muslim Murray who were already foreigner move on he read by politics not ending to ... a ... legitimate fears of friends that are being overwhelmed by a Muslim culture ... but the response he is playing with symbols ... but the bigger issue for us as people live in a free society ... on is is this something that society ... should we go about deciding what kind of clothes you wear ... and specifically targeting ... members of religion because whether we like it or not ... some of them choose some of them are forced but if they are forced ... our societies get the reports which is ... embedded in them all ... it's been a problem so ... when you think would say hang on a second let's talk about this year the context ... of ... that is essentially saying ... that Sarkozy and other European politicians and Riverbed appliances were very far right-wing elements ... it the fact is that a lot of men people who define themselves as politically ... on the left progress in Europe Jack Straw the former foreign secretary Britain ... also have serious problems with ... the burka for progress ... for the progress of reasons ... this is something for supplies and tediously ... to win it ... but the fact is that the fact that many of these women are essentially forced ... to wear the sorts of clothes ... is something that needs to be taken into account ... but more more importance to the pressure to force them to work ... with ... the ensuite share in the United States OK ... have all kinds of loss about what you have to where you can walk down topless down fifth Avenue there are issues ... there are in fact dress codes ... in our society ... and we don't have an absolute ... we don't have laws that say ... so long as it's religion ... you're allowed to do we ban Muslim of up to be weak and one included does that mean we're anti Mormon ... nowhere anti certain CSC's sex the call themselves the sex of the Mormon ... Church ... the practice polygamy ... the Supreme Court twenty years ago said ... just because you using PODD in a religious practice ... doesn't mean that the state is allowed to tolerate that so we have all kinds of restrictions ... on certain sorts of the teacher that ... the Mormon church would say they don't ... allow polygamy in the world but just to declare a ... way to ... go back to blogging the intervals between by ... going back to Jon ... Stewart on The basic idea ... is if your actions in on some routes ... uses an air on the side of ... the things the way ... and on and ... as ... far fetched to say that because a woman chooses he was forced to wear a burka or when the time ... mostly we're in a ... what are some of them ... that is doing harm to the skin is completely different to you ... Sunday wouldn't say that this is this ... week's summit to ... meet someone walking down the can ... down the Dow has been ... on the message of public decency ... expecting states into public decency that will show you out with these things in public ... I think it's outrageous to have police go round ... telling on you know visitors from from Iran workers has been the key coffee in Paris ... he was taken off now ... on ... with the U S technology to make an analogy I mean they're not ... they're not offending anyone in an ... ocean probable cause of the class ... these role models like to do if NLY s office person walking down Fifth up and write a lot of people say Hey that's actually that's that's great ... but we have rules in society we enforce norms ... that's a normal part citing look ... we participate in liberal free societies as envisaged ... we don't participate as ... Idenix ... and what ... the face veil on essentially does is say ... I'm not a person I don't have the state's ... high of nearly an identity of a Muslim woman it's also what is a visit this is this is just the Muslim practice ... this is something that happened ... in the very extreme Muslim societies the Taliban of ... Afghanistan under the Taliban certain areas of of of Saudi read it ... it's just wrong to say that this is a matter of freedom because these sorts of holdings that these these sorts of posts ... truffle correlate with very repressive societies and we have an interest in ... and France serving as an interest ... in saying now that that that crosses the wind that we as a society don't want crops ... Doria is there something about showing your face a new deal in a free society isn't something we own it will ... require ... Ms accretable ... gets an a I think that there didn't you can also bet ... people from from wearing a ski mask the symptoms and this has done ... in our ... industry and invitations for public office that you think you were about to ... do something ... to commit a crime ... to Recovery your face because of ... on days when you've been doing was too light for the necessity of coastal custom ... your country um they knew what do and that is George ... the choice to discern degree you may not like it ... I may not like I'm certain that's just know what the chew on the continent ... what it is their choice and is not for us to ... Stutzman on the stocks ... they were all grateful that the US Congress ... of legislating are pulling their when we don't leave it there but we are out of phase two of Editor Bret that we are more of what you want to check out the metal broke the going back and forth on the middle of that summer website today ... thanks for being with us and please come back Monday and every weekday at noon Eastern for opinion Journal I've thanks ...